Your average weight loss on a low-calorie diet will vary depending upon a few factors. Your current weight, height and age affects the number of calories you can consume as well as the total number of calories you burn. In general, you lose more weight when you trim more calories from your diet. However, rapid weight loss diets do not give you nutritional balance, affecting your health and lessening your chances of maintaining weight loss.
Average Weight Loss
If you watch your total caloric intake, switch to healthier food options, eat frequent small meals and incorporate daily activity into your routine, you can expect to lose an average of 1 to 2 lbs. per week. This gradual rate of weight loss allows you to make lifestyle shifts to your eating and exercising habits, supporting your ability to keep off excess weight long-term.
Rapid Weight Loss
Some diets promise more rapid weight loss, typically through extreme calorie restriction, behavior modification and intense workouts. However, most of these diets demand too much time and energy, and provide too few nutrients for people who need to lose a significant amount of weight. In some cases, doctors may prescribe a one-week low-calorie diet to help someone lose up to 5 lbs. quickly. However, the doctor must supervise the patient during the diet and provide a new diet to transition the patient from rapid weight-loss to gradual weight-loss.
Types of Diets
A 2008 Harvard study published in "New England Journal of Medicine" followed people who adopted different types of low-calorie diets to determine their average weight loss. The researchers found that, after two years, the average weight loss was 10 lbs. for people following a diet lower in carbohydrates. The average weight loss was nearly 10 lbs. for people eating a lower-calorie Mediterranean diet. People following a low-fat diet lost an average of 6 lbs. The majority of weight loss happened within the first six months of the diet plan. These diets featured a target calorie count of around 1,500 calories for women of an average height and 1,800 for men of an average height.
Exercise
The role of exercise is complex in relationship to dieting and weight loss. Intense aerobic exercise burns calories, but it also increases appetite. Resistance and strengthening activities burn fewer calories, but raise your basal metabolic rate. In general, doing daily activity improves your cardiovascular health but does not make a major difference in weight loss unless you refrain from consuming more food to replace burned calories. However, long-term exercising is a major factor in helping dieters maintain a healthy weight.
Member Comments